History of Terrorism Research Network

Historical studies of terrorism have grown in number since David C. Rapoport lamented in 2004 that ‘no good history of terrorism exists’. Yet state-of the field surveys continue to note both a comparative dearth of historical work on the phenomenon and relative absence of historians from terrorism studies.

Scholarly work on terrorism often focuses both on current threats, at the expense of past incidents of terrorism, and the attempt to develop globally applicable models, that can ignore specificities and the importance of context in shaping notions of, and beliefs about, terrorism.

Historians, on the other hand, value the distinctiveness and influence of the contextual moment. Recent publications have however demonstrated the richness and variety of historical investigation underway in a range of locations and periods.

Given the upturn in historical scholarship, it is now time that historians better articulate the specificity and significance of a historical approach to terrorism. What does it mean to employ a ‘historical’ method in the study of terrorism? What is the value of historical work on terrorism beyond history? Is a coherent and convincing ‘long history’ of terrorism possible?

We take a conceptual approach to terrorism.  We understand that terrorism is a contested concept.  Its meaning and use have changed over time, yet history can help us to understand these meanings, changes, and their significance, for the histories of terrorism and the societies in which it operated. For more information contact Dr Chris Millington, c.millington@mmu.ac.uk